Lara Schnitger is a Dutch-born artist who lives and works in Los Angeles. She uses female sexuality and depictions of the body as a tool to challenge what is deemed acceptably feminine versus obscene. Her work is playfully over-the-top and exuberant, yet serious, pointedly addressing the continued struggle for women’s equality and safety in a culture of patriarchy. Schnitger uses rigid materials such as wood and resin in combination with soft materials like leather, fur, silk, cotton and lycra to create sculptures that reference the female body. Her fabric paintings and quilts incorporate image and text, thus doubling their functionality as art and protest signs. By pairing techniques like dying, quilting, weaving and sewing with tough and rebellious postures and messaging, the artist pushes the expressive power of traditional crafts. The artist’s work is represented in the permanent collections of reputable museums both in Europe and the United States.